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BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 

JEANNE LA FILEUSE— Episode de 1' Emigration 
Franco-Canadienne aux Etats-Unis— Premiere edition 
1878— Deuxierne edition— Montreal, 1888. 

LE VIEUX MONTREAL, 1611-1803— Album bistorique, 
chronologique et topographique de la ville de Mont- 
real depuissa fondation —13 planches en couleurs— 
Dessins deP. L. Morin— Montreal, 1884. 

MELANGES— Trois Conferences— Montreal, 1888. 

LETTRES DE VOYAGE— France— Italie— Sicile— Malte 
— Tunisie— Alg6rie— Espagne— Montreal , 1889. 

SIX MOIS DANS LES MONTAGNES ROCHEUSES- 
Colorado—TJtah — Nouveau-Mexique— Edition illustree 
Montreal, 1890. 

LA CHASSE-GALEMEET AUTRES LEGENDES- 
Montreal, 1900— Edition de Luxe, en Francais. 

LA CHASSE-GALERIE AND OTHER TALES-Mont- 
real 1900— Edition de Luxe, en Anglais. 



fefMSS 




rag 


vug 




H. BEAVGRAND 






NEW STUDIES 






OF 






CANADIAN 






FOLK LORE 




E^WK^yDil 


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E. M. RENOUF 




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Publishct 
MONTREAL 




J^^SaaS^S 










113 



Contents. 

Foreword 7 

The Goblin Lore of French Canada 9 

Macloune • s 2 5 

Indian Picture and Symbol Writing 45 

Legend of the North Pacific H5 

Illustrations. 

Telling Goblin Stories 8 

The Village Doctor and Others 1 1 

An Old Patriot of 37 15 

The Village Driver 19 

Macloune and Marichette - 24 

Chronological Wheel 51' 

Indictions 55 ' 

Aztec Manuscript 59 

Aztec Manuscript G3 

Aztec Calendar 67' 

Tomahawk and Tools of Pueblos 69 

Vases made by Puebloanos 71 

Images and Statuettes 73 

Articles of Pottery 75 

Whip, Tamborine and Ornaments 77 

Mount of the Holy Cross 81 

j>/jr y^ 



Foreword 

Mr. Beaugrand has taken from the celebrated 
French tale-writer, Charles Nodier, the beautiful 
epigraph which he has placed upon this, his new 
volume of Canadian Folk Lore : ' ' Let us hasten 
to relate the tales of the people before they are 
forgotten." None was ever more saturated 
with the spirit of Nodier' s words than Honore 
Beaugrand. He more vividly than any other 
writer has preserved the exact atmosphere of 
the disappearing legends of French Canada. 

It would be superfluous for this preface to 
assume to introduce Mr. Beaugrand. 

His career in the world of letters in Canada, 
in France and in the United States is too well 
known to call for anything more than a passing 
notice. His first novel was issued in 1878, and 
his labors on the daily press and in the Canadian, 
American, and French magazines and review.* 
constitute a continuous series of articles on a 
wide range of topics, from the legendary lore of 
his native country to the more serious themes of 
political economy. His maps of old Montreal — 
Le Vieux Montreal — published in 1884, forma 
precious contribution to the history of the city, 
over which he presided, as mayor, for two terms 
of office, to the satisfaction of everybody, during a 
difficult period. His letters of travel in Europe, 
the United States, Mexico, Japan, China, India 



and the northern part of Africa were perused 
with interest by a large circle of readers. But his 
researches in Canadian Folk Lore form, after all, 
the most delightful and characteristic product of 
his pen. From infancy he has been thoroughly 
familiar with all the quaint legends and super- 
stitions of the Province of Quebec, and he relates 
the stories that he has heard at the firesides of 
his native village, the charming country side of 
Lanoraie, retaining, with inborn genius and love 
of his subject, their savoury simplicity and 
picturesque grouping. La Chasse-Galeiie and 
The Were- Wolves, first published in the Century 
Magazine of New York, La quite de V Enfant 
/esus, La bite a grand' queue are typical legends 
of popular superstition. Macloune is an idyl of 
misfortune and pathos, the simplicity and origin- 
ality of which, its surpassing sweetness and 
melancholy, strike deep in the sympathetic 
heart and deserve a place in the world's litera- 
ture. It has been compared by a well-known 
Parisian critic to the tender pages of Bernardin 
de St. Pierre's Paul et Virginie. His researches 
on Indian Picture and Symbol W?iti?ig denote 
both patient and intelligent developments on a 
subject removed from the beaten paths of 
popular study. 

The illustrations which go so far to illuminate 
the text are w r orthy of more than passing 
notice for the reader who is at all familiar with 



the inhabitants of La Nouvelle France. It is safe to 
say that no such close transcripts of French 
Canadian life were ever drawn as the scenes by 
Julien and Barre\ The Legend of the North 
Pacific is a dissertation on the origin of the Abor- 
igines of North America. The volume forms the 
most imporant addition ever issued and perhaps 
that may ever be issued, to the history of 
Canadian Folk L,ore. It may not be considered 
out of place to draw the attention of the reader 
to the work of the printer, the binder and 
engraver. Montreal has every reason to be 
proud of such meritorious efforts in the direction 
of editions de luxe. 

W. D. LIGHTHAUv. 
Chateauclair, Westmount. 
Montreal, Otocber 20, 1904. 




Telling Goblin Stories. 



The Goblin Lore of 
French Canada *• 




HE LORE of the Werwolves has BitM». B ou.de «<»,.. 

ter les lnstoires (hi 

been the subject of a study pub- penpie avant qu'ii m, 

1 . - , t t les oublie. 

lished some years ago by the 
writer, and the Goblin Lore 
is among the most popular 
and the best known among 
the Canadian population of 
French origin. Some typical 
drawings from nature have 
been secured by the artist 
and accompany the following 
sketch. The readers who are 
familiar with peasant life in , 
the Province of Quebec can 
testify to their picturesque: 
accuracy, 

It is evident that the Goblin 
Lore of Canada was imported 
from France, and that very 
few changes have even taken 
place in the primitive form, 



CbC except, perhaps, in things connected with 
QOblitt the difference in climatic or geological sur- 
CorC roundings. The French etymology of 
the world itself is rather obscure, while 
some lexicologists even pretend that its 
origin is unknown. The Dictionnaire de 
L* Academie Frangaise makes the word 
come from the old Norman lutine, which 
means a ghost, a white lady, or from the 
Walloon luton or nuton. The most 
ancient form in French is luiton. Frisch 
ascribes to it a German origin, and 
makes it come from laut, sound, noise, 
while Grimm gives it a Latin derivation, 
and says it might possibly come from 
lutus, morning. Grandmadge takes it 
from the Saxon lytel, which has formed 
the modern English little. There seems 
to be something serious in this last 
etymology, inasmuch as the Goblin lore 
is of Saxon origin, and particularly as 
the most distinguishing characteristic of 
the lutin is its diminutive size. Be that 
as it may, authors seem to be divided on 
the origin of the word, but all agree that 
10 the superstition obtains, under different 




The Village Doctor. 






Two well-to-do Habitants. 



forms, in all countries of Europe, of vl)C 
Scandinavian, Saxon, Celtic and Latin ttOMltl 
traditions. In the French-speaking EOfC 
parishes of the Province of Quebec the 
lutins are considered as mischievous ? 
fun-loving little spirits, which may be 
protecting or annoying household gods 
or demons, according to the treatment 
that they receive from the inmates of the 
house where they have chosen to dwell. 
It generally takes the form of a domestic 
pet, such as a dog, a cat, a bird, a rabbit, 
or even a reptile of the inoffensive 
species, or, again, rats and mice that 
have learned to become familiar with the 
members of the household. 

Black cats always had a rather sus- 
picious reputation as associates of sorcer- 
esses and witches, but it is singular that 
among our peasants they are regarded 
as protecting goblins, and that no one 
would think of parting with them, chas- 
ing them faway or ill-treating them in 
any manner. Lucky is the man whose 
house, or barn, or stable, have been 
chosen as a home by a large family of * 9 



£|)$ black cats. White cats (they must be 
GOblin °f spotless white) are also considered as 
£0f$ lutins, but I do not think that their pro- 
tective abilities are as highly appreciated 
as those of their brothers of sombre hue. 
The same may be said of rabbits, birds or 
dogs, which have never attained the 
popularity of the cats, but who occupy 
sometimes the popular position of house- 
hold spirits, but rather in a lesser degree. 
I have known an old farmer, in the parish 
where I was born, to get in a great 
excitement and give a good thrashing to 
a boy who had innocently killed a small 
yellow snake which he had seen crawl- 
ing along the grass in front of his house. 
The old man said that he would have 
preferred losing his best horse rather than 
see that snake killed. It had been living 
in his cellar for some years past, and he 
considered it as a good lutin bringing 
him luck and prosperity. I have said 
that lutins could be protective or annoy- 
ing, according to the treatment that they 
received. The most fantastic powers are 
14 attributed to the good lutins, and there is 




An old "Patriote" of '37. 



hardly any good action or any favorable £|)£ 
intervention of which they are not capable, goblin 
They will procure good weather for the £^ 
crops, they will watch over favorite 
animals, they will intercede for the 
recovery of the sick members of the 
household, and I have heard of an enter- 
prising lutin who would, during the 
night, shave the face of his master and 
black his boots for Sunday morning. 

So much for the good lutins, who are 
treated in a proper and affectionate 
manner, but woe to the wicked or un- 
happy man who willingly or unluckily 
offends his household spirit, be it under 
the form of a black cat, white dog or 
yellow snake. Life for him will become - 
a burden, and his days, and especially 
his nights, will become a pretext for a 
long series of annoyances and persecu- 
tions of all kinds. On rising in the 
morning he will find his boots filled withi 
peas or with pebbles ; his pantaloons will 
be sewed up at the knee ; he will find salt 
in his porridge and pepper in his tea, and 
the meat in his soup-kettle shall be turned 17 



£|)£ into pieces of stone. If he goes cutting 
60bliH na y or §" ram > ne cannot get his scythe or 
£$!»{ his sickle to cut properly ; in winter time 
the water will freeze in his well and his 
wife never can cook a good tourtiere — 
meat pie, without burning the crust into a 
crisp. These are only a few of the ills 
that await the poor man at his house or 
in his field ; but the stable is the favorite 
place where the lutin will make his power 
felt. He loves to take his revenge on 
the favorite horse of his offender. He 
will nightly, during months and months, 
braid or entangle the hair of the tail and 
mane of the animal, and when the farmer 
comes in the morning to groom his 
roadster he will find it in a terrible plight, 
all covered with thistles or burrs. The 
lutins will even go further than that 
when they have been gravely insulted. 
They will find their way into the stable 
during the night, mount the horse, and 
ride it at the highest speed until the wee 
hours of the morning, returning it to its 
stall completely tired out, broken down 
l$.and all in a lather of sweat. And what 







/ 






\Z*^ w 




The Village Driver. 



is the farmer to do to cope with its £|)$ 
ghostly enemy and to prevent his carry- (joblltt 
ing out his system of persecution ? He £oi*C 
will sprinkle with salt the path that leads 
to the stable, and he will place a bag of 
salt against the door at the interior of 
the stable, so that the salt will be spilt 
when the lutin tries to enter. It would 
seem that lutins have a holy horror for 
salt, and that they cannot pass where 
that condiment has been strewn in their 
way. But lutins will even evade the salt 
and enter the building to play their 
ghostly tricks. Then, there is only one 
way of putting a stop to their annoy- 
ances. The peasant will have to kill one 
black and one white cat, and, with the 
strips of raw hides resulting from that 
double murder, he will make lattice screen 
doors and windows for his stable, and 
the lutin never was known that could 
crawl through an aperture so protected 
against his wiles. Friendly lutins will 
attach themselves to favorite children 
and guide them safely through the infan- 
tine maladies of their tender years. They % \ 



C1)C will befriend sweet and comely maidens, 
60bllH and favor them in subjugation of a 
£0fC recalcitrant sweetheart, but they must 
be treated in a just, proper and affec- 
tionate manner, because they seem to 
ignore the doctrine of forgiveness, and, 
come what may, they are bound to get 
even with those who have had the bad 
luck to incur their ill will or their anger. 
Such is the lore of the lutins of French 
Canada. 




22 




Macloune and Marionette. 



Macloune. 



The Author has translated his own story into 
English from the French, and has attempted 
to follow almost word for word the phrase- 
ology of the original. This will explain a 
few Gallicisms and the turn of certain 
phrases. The story has been taken from life 
and is true in almost every detail. 




I. 

LTHOUGH they had given him 
at baptism the surname of Max- 
ime, everyone in the village 
called him Macloune. And that, because 
his mother, Marie Gallien, had a defect 
of articulation which hindered her from 
pronouncing distinctly his name. She 
said Macloune in the place of Maxime, 
and the villagers called him likewise. 

He was a poor wretch who was born 
and who had grown up in the most pro- 
found and in the most respectable 
poverty. 



25 



Iflfr His father was a brave boatman who 
ClOII* was drowned when Macloune was yet in 
IIC the cradle ; and his mother had succeeded 
in going about, right and left, to drag 
out a laborious existence and to save the 
life of her child, who was born rickety, 
and who had lived and grown up in spite 
of all the predictions and the gossips of 
the villagers. 

The boy was a monster of ugliness. 
Ill made to the extreme, he had a body to 
which was attached long arms and long, 
lanky legs, which terminated by feet and 
hands that had hardly human semblance. 
He was bandy, cripple, hunchback, and 
the unfortunate boy looked like an ape 
escaped from a travelling menagerie. 
Nature had forgotten to endow him with 
a chin, and two long yellowish teeth 
stood out from a little hole which served 
him as a mouth. He could not masticate 
his aliments, and it was a curiosity to 
see him eat. 

His language was composed of phrases 

incoherent and of sounds inarticulate, 

26 which he accompanied with a pantomime 



absolutely comical. He managed well m* 
enough to make himself understood, even aIam, 
by those who heard him for the first time, ^ 

In spite of this ugliness truly repulsive 
and of this difficulty of language, Mac- 
loune was adored by his mother and 
loved by all the villagers. 

It is true that he was as good as he 
was ugly, and he had two great blue eyes 
that were fixed on you as if to say : 

" It is true I am very horrible to see, 
but such as you see me I am the only 
support of my old mother, and as miser- 
able as I am it is necessary for me to 
work to give her bread. 

And not a gamin, even among the 
most wicked, would have dared to mock 
his ugliness or to abuse his feebleness. 

And besides, they took him in pity 
because they said at the village that an 
old squaw had thrown a spell on Marie 
Gallien several months before the birth 
of Macloune. This savagess was a maker 
of baskets and drank bad whisky as soon 
as she had been able to gather together 
enough pennies to buy a bottle, and it 27 



m* was then an orgy which remained forever 
ClOU* §f raven m tne memory of those who were 
••A witnesses of her pranks. The miserable 
creature roamed about the streets scream- 
ing cries of wild beasts and in tearing her 
hair. One must see the savage under 
the influence of alcohol to form an idea 
of these scenes. It is in one of these 
occasions that the savagess had tried to 
force the door of the little house of Marie 
Gallien, and she had cursed the poor 
woman who was half dead with fear and 
who had refused to allow her to enter 
her house. And they believed generally 
at the village it was the malediction of 
the savagess that was the cause of the 
ugliness of poor Macloune. They said 
also, but without confirming it cate- 
gorically, that a beggar of St. Michel 
d'Yamaska, who had the reputation to be 
something of a sorcerer, had thrown 
another spell on Marie Gallien because 
that poor woman had not been able to 
give him alms when that she was her- 
self in the most abject poverty during her 
convalescence, after the birth of her infant. 



II. 

Macloune had grown up by workings* 
and making himself useful when he was -|*« 
able, and he was always ready to render ^ 
a service, to do an errand, or to lend a 
hand when occasion presented itself. He 
had never been to school, and it is only 
very late, at the age of thirteen or four- 
teen years, that the cure of the village 
had permitted him to make his first com- 
munion. Although he was not what one 
calls a simpleton, his intelligence was 
not very active and had never been culti- 
vated. Since the age of ten years he 
aided his mother to help to boil the pot 
and to gather the firewood for the winter. 
It was generally on the beach of the St. 
Lawrence that he passed long hours 
gathering the floating branches that had 
come down with the current and were 
stranded on the shore. 

Macloune had developed early a leaning 
for barter, a.nd it was a great day when he 
could go to Montreal to buy some articles 
of easy sale, like thread, needles, buttons, 
which he peddled afterwards in a basket 
along with fruits and candies. M 



Ittfl* There was no more misery in the little 

ClOU- family to date from this epoch ; but the 

IIC poor boy had counted without the malady 

which commenced to attack his poor worn 

body already so feeble and so cruelly 

tried. 

But Macloune was brave, and there was 
rarely times when they missed him on the 
wharf, at the landing place of the market 
boat, or before and after high mass every 
Sunday and holiday of the year. During 
the long evenings of summer he went fish- 
ing in the waters of the great river, and 
he had become very clever in managing a 
small boat either with the oar or with the 
sail when the winds were favorable. During 
the great breezes of the northeast they 
often perceived Macloune alone in his boat, 
hairs to the wind, beating down the river 
or heading away towards the Isles de 
Contrecceur, 

During the season of strawberries, rasp- 
berries and of blueberries, he had organized 
a little commerce which brought him some 
very good profits. He bought these fruits of 
30 the villagers to resell them on the markets 



of Montreal. It is about at that time that IDH* 
he made the acquaintance of a poor girl, ClOtl* 
who had brought her blueberries from the IK 
shore opposite where she lived in the con- 
cession of La Petite Misere. 

III. 

The meeting of this poor girl was a 
revolution in the existence of Macloune. 
For the first time he Had dared to raise 
his eyes on a woman, and he became 
violently in love. The young girl, who 
was called Marie Joyelle, was neither rich 
nor beautiful. She was an orphan, thin, 
sickly, wasted by work, that an uncle had 
taken in charity ; and lie made her labor 
like a slave in exchange for a meagre pit- 
tance and for vestments of refuse which 
sufficed hardly to cover her decently. 
The poor little thing had never worn stock- 
ings in all her life, and a little shawl, black 
with red checks, served to cover her head 
and shoulders. 

The first evidence of affection that 
Macloune gave her was a pair of store 
shoes and a flowered dress, which he $1 



Iflfl. brought to her one day from Montreal, 
ClOU" an( * wm 'ch he offered timidly, saying in 
H£ his particular language : 

" Dress, mam'selle ? Shoes, mam'selle ? 
Macloune buy these for you. You take, 
hey?" 

And Marie Joyellehad accepted simply 
before the look of inexpressible affection 
with which Macloune offered his gift. 

It was the first time that the poor Mari- 
chette, as they called her always, was the 
object of an offering which did not issue 
from a sentiment of pity. She had com- 
prehended Macloune, and, without occupy- 
ing herself with his ugliness and his 
jargon, her heart had been profoundly 
touched. 

And dating from that moment Macloune 
and Marichette loved each other as one 
loves at eighteen, forgetting that nature had 
made them beings apart and that they must 
not even think of uniting by marriage. Ma- 
cloune, in his candour and in his simplicity, 
related to his mother that which had come to 
pass, and old Marie Gallien found it quite 
natural that her son had chosen a bonne 
$2 amie and that he had thought of marriage. 



All the village was soon in the secret, |flfl= 
for the Sunday following Macloune had set c|$k_- 
out early with his boat to betake himself |f$ 
to La Petite Misere with the object of 
praying Marichette to accompany him to 
the high mass, at Lanoraie. And she had 
agreed, finding the request absolutely 
natural since she had accepted Macloune 
as her cavalier by receiving his presents. 

Marichette brought out her fine clothes 
for the occasion. She put on her flowered 
dress and her store shoes. She lacked 
nothing more than a hat with feathers, the 
same as worn by the girls of Lanoraie, to 
fancy herself a young lady of fashion. Her 
uncle, who had befriended her, was a poor 
devil who found himself at the head of a 
numerous family, and who asked nothing 
better than to get rid of her in marrying 
her to the first comer ; and for him, 
Macloune was worth any other. 

It must be acknowledged that they pro- 
duced a certain sensation in the village 
when, on the tolling of the third bell 
for the high mass, Macloune appeared giv- 
ing his arm to Marichette. Every one had 3$ 



IHa* too much affection for the poor boy to 
ClQU' mock him openly, but they turned away 
IK their heads to hide the smiles they were 
not able to suppress entirely. The two 
lovers entered the church without appear- 
ing to busy themselves with those who 
stopped to watch them, and walked to 
the head of the great aisle on one of the 
benches of wood reserved for the poor of 
the parish. 

And there, without turning their heads 
a single time and without taking notice of 
the effect which they produced, they heard 
the mass with the greatest piety. 

They went out in the same manner that 
they entered, as if they might have been 
all alone in the world, and they betook 
themselves tranquilly, with steps measured, 
to Marie Gallien's, where awaited them 
the dinner of Sunday. 

" Macloune has made a sweetheart ! 
Macloune wants to get married ! Macloune 
keeps company with La Marichette I" 

And the commentaries went their way 

among the crowd which gathers always 

H after high mass before the church of the 



parish, to chat about the events of the j^, 
week. cl0||l 

" He is a brave and honest boy/' said ^ 
every one, " but there was no sense for an 
ape like him to think of marriage." 

This was the popular verdict ! 

The doctor, who was a bachelor and 
dined with the cure every Sunday, whis- 
pered a word of the matter during the 
repast, and it was agreed between them 
that it was necessary to prevent this mar- 
riage at any price. They thought that it 
would be a crime to permit Macloune, sick, 
infirm, rickety and deformed as he was, to 
become the father of a progeny which 
would be condemned in advance to a con- 
dition of intellectual inferiority and phy- 
sical decrepitude. Nothing hurried in the 
meanwhile, and it would be always time to 
stop the marriage when they would come 
to place the banns at the church. 

And then ! this marriage ; was it really 
serious after all ? 

IV. 

Macloune who spoke rarely, only when 
he v/as forced to do so by his little business, 35 



Rlfl* was ignorant of the conspiracies that they 
ClOU" were hatching against his happiness. He 
AC attended to his occupations as usual, but 
each evening, by dusk, when all was tran- 
quil in the village, he embarked in his 
boat and he crossed to La Petite Misere, 
to meet Marichette, who awaited him on 
the beach. As poor as he was, he found 
always means to bring a little present to 
his bonne amie — a bit of ribbon, a kerchief 
of cotton, a fruit, a bonbon — which had 
been given him and which he had pre- 
served. Some wild flowers, which he had 
gathered in the fields or on the borders of 
the high road, he offered always with the 
same : 

" Bojou, Maichette !" (Good day, Mari- 
chette ! ) 

4 'Bon jour, Macloune ! " (Good day, 
Macloune !) 

And this was all their conversation. 
They seated themselves on the side of the 
skiff which Macloune had drawn up on 
the beach, and they waited there some- 
times during an entire hour, until the 
*(& moment when a voice from the house : 



" Marichette ! oh! Marichette !" n%^ B 

It was the aunt who proclaimed the *t*« 
hour of return to bed. The two lovers *|a 
took each others hands, and looking at 
each other fixedly said : 

" Bosoi, Maichette !" (Good-night, Mari- 
chette!) 

" Bon soir, Macloune ! " (Good-night, 
Macloune !) 

And Marichette returned to the cabin 
and Macloune paddled back to Lanoraie. 

Things went on thus for more than a 
month, when one evening Macloune re- 
turned more joyous than usual. 

"Bojou, Maichette !" 

" Bon jour, Macloune !'' 

And the cripple drew from his pocket a 
little box of white cardboard, from which 
he drew a ring of gold, very modest, and 
which he passed on the finger of the young 
girl. 

" Us two, married at St. Michel, Hey 
Maichette ! " 

" Yes, Macloune, when thou shalt 
wish." 

And the two outcasts, to each other 37 



Iflfl. gave a kiss very chaste. And this was all. 
C|$y. The marriage being decided for Mic- 
Hf haelmas, there was nothing more to do 
than to place the banns at the church. 
The parents consented to the marriage, 
and it was quite useless to see the notary 
for the marriage contract, for the two 
would commence life together in misery 
and in poverty. There could not be a 
question of heritage, of dower, or of 
separation of community of wealth. 

The next day, at four in the afternoon, 
Macloune put on his Sunday clothes and 
wended his way towards the presbytery, 
where he found the cure, who was pro- 
menading in the walks of his garden, 
reciting his breviary. 

" Bon jour, Maxime !" 

The cure alone in the village called 
him by his real name. 

'• Bojou, Mosieu Cure* (Good-day Mr. 
Cure!). 

"I learn, Maxime, that thou hast the 
intention of marrying." 

" Yes, Mosieu Cure." 

" With Marichette Joyelle, of Contre- 
to coeur?" 



" Yes, Mosieu Cure." |Ha- 

" It must not be thought of, my poor ClOU c 
Maxime. Thou hast not the means of fl$ 
keeping a wife. And thy poor mother, 
what would become of her without thee 
to give her bread ?" 

Macloune, who had never thought that 
there could be any impediments to his. 
marriage, regarded the cure with an hope- 
less air, and disheartened, and with the 
resignation of a dog that sees himself 
cruelly struck by his master, without 
comprehending why they maltreated him 
so. 

" Ah, no ! my poor Maxime, it must 
not be thought of. Thou art feeble, 
sickly. It is necessary to postpone that 
when thou shalt be of age." 

Macloune, stricken, was not able to 
answer. The respect which he had for the 
cure would have prevented him, if a sob,, 
which he could not control and which 
choked him, had not placed him in the 
impossibility of pronouncing a single 
word. 

All that which he understood was that 3^ 



It}a--they were going to hinder him from 
ClOII 3 marrying Marichette, and in his simple 
Incredulity he construed the words of the 
cure as fatal. He gave a long look of 
reproach to him who thus sacrificed his 
happiness, and without thinking to ques- 
tion the judgment that struck him so 
cruelly, he set off running towards the 
beach, which he followed, to return to 
his own home, in order to escape from 
the curiosity of the villagers who would 
have seen him weeping. He threw him- 
self in the arms of his mother, who com- 
prehended nothing of his trouble. The 
unhappy cripple sobted thus during an 
hour, and to the questions reiterated by 
his mother could only respond : 

" Mosieu Cure will not let me marry 
Maichette ; me die, mamam." 

And it is in vain that the poor woman, 
in her language uncouth, tried to con- 
sole him. She would go herself to see 
the cure and to him explain the situa- 
tion. She saw not why they wished to 
prevent her Macloune from marrying 
40 her whom he loved. 



But Macloune was inconsolable. He 
would not eat at the repast of the evening, 
and as soon as the obscurity came he took 
his paddle and wended his way to the 
beach with the evident intention of crossing 
over to La Petite Misere for there to see 
Marichette. His mother tried to dissuade 
him, for the sky was heavy, the air was 
cold, and great clouds were rolling up on 
the horizon. They were going to have 
rain and perhaps high winds. But Ma- 
cloune heard not or seemed not to under- 
stand the objections of his mother. He 
kissed her tenderly, straining her in his 
arms, and then leaping into his skiff, he 
disappeared into the sombre night. 

Marichette was waiting for him on the 
shore at the usual place. The darkness 
hindered her from remarking the haggard 
face of her lover, and she advanced towards 
him with the usual salutation : 

rf Bon jour, Macloune ! " 

" Bojou, Maichette ! " 

And taking her frantically in his arms 
he drew her tightly to his breast, stam- 
mering phrases incoherent, broken with 
sobs heartrending. %\ 



ciou< 
tie 



It!<|- " Thou knowest, Maichette, Mosieu 

ClOU- Cure wishes not us to marry — too poor, 

1W us — too ugly, me — too ugly — too ugly to 

marry thee — me wish not to live — me 

want to die." 

And the poor Marichette, comprehending 
the terrible misfortune which had stricken 
ihem, mingled her tears with the lamenta- 
tions and with the sobs of the unhappy 
Macloune. 

And they both wept in the dark night, 
without heeding the rain which commenced 
to fall in torrents and the cold wind of the 
north, which moaned in the tall poplars 
that bordered the bank. 

Hours went by. The rain fell in tor- 
rents. The great river, torn by the tempest, 
was covered with foam, and the waves 
rolled far up on the beach ; from time to 
time, coming to cover the feet of the lovers, 
who wept and stammered plaintive lament- 
ations, locked in a close embrace. The 
poor children were soaked by the rain, but 
they forgot all in their despair. They had 
neither the intelligence to discuss the 
42 situation nor the courage to shake off the 



torpor which had taken possession of them. Iflfl. 
Thus they passed the night, and it is clOll- 

only at the first glimmering of the dawn fl{ 
that they separated with a last convulsive 
embrace. They shivered, for the thin 
rags which covered them protected them 
very little against the wind of the north 
which blew now in a tempest. 

Was it by presentiment or simply by 
despair that they to each other said ; 
■ u Adieu, Macloune ! " 

" Adieu, Maichette ! " 

And the poor little girl, soaked and 
benumbed to the marrow, her teeth chat- 
tering, returned to her uncle's, where they 
had not perceived her absence, whilst Ma- 
cloune launched his skiff in the surf and 
directed it towards Lanoraie. He had 
a head wind, and it was necessary to 
use his skillfulness to prevent the frail boat 
from being submerged in the great waves. 
He had two hours of work incessant before 
reaching the shore opposite. 

The mother had passed the night while 
waiting in a mortal inquietude. Macloune 
threw himself on the bed all exhausted, 43 



H^, shivering, his face lit up by fever, and 
£|Qlj 3 all that which poor Marie Gallien could do 
U^to warm him was useless. 

The doctor called about nine in the 
morning, declared that he was suffering 
from an inflammation of the lungs and 
that it was necessary to seek the priest at 
once. 

The good cure brought the sacrament 
to the dying boy, who moaned in his de- 
lirium and stammered words incomprehen-* 
sible. Macloune recognized at times the 
priest who prayed by his side ; and he ex- 
pired, in casting on him a look of gentle 
reproach and of inexpressible hopelessness 
murmuring the name of Marichette. 
VI. 

A month later, at Michaelmas, the hearse 
of the paupers carried to the cemetery of 
Contrecceur Marichette Joyelle, dead of 
quick consumption, at her uncle's, of La 
Petite Misere. 

These poor outcasts from life, from hap- 
piness, and from love, had even not had 
the mournful privilege of being united in 
death under the same mound, in a corner 
44obscure of the same churchyard. 



Indian Picture ** 
and Symbol Writing 




ICTURE and symbol writing 
among the Aborigines of North 
America never reached a very 
high degree of perfection, if we except 
the hieroglyphic and symbolical system 
of the Aztecs. The Indians of South 
America knew still less ; and even with 
its comparative state of civilization, Peru 
did not possess anything approaching a 
code of writing for the transmission or 
preservation of speech or fixing the 
history of current events. However, a 
most mysterious and curious science 
called the Quipus supplied the Peruvians 
with the means of communicating their 
ideas to one another, but it was not in 
the form of writing or engraving. Garci- 
lassio, the Inca historian of Peru, Cieza 
de Leon, in the second part of his 45 



Indian Chronicles of Peru, and Ondegardo in 
PiCtUrC his official Relaciones, explain the system 
Writing as far as it can be subject of explanation 
without practical demonstration. 




Prescott in the "Civilization of the 
Incas " says that : " The Quipus " was a 
cord about two feet long composed of 
different colored threads tightly twisted 
together, from which a quantity of smaller 
threads were suspended in the manner of 
a fringe. The threads were of different 
colors, and were tied into knots. The 
colors denoted sensible objects ; as for 
instance, white represented silver and 
yellow, gold. They sometimes also stood 
for abstract ideas. Thus white could 
signify peace, and red, war. But the 
Quipus was chiefly used for arithmetical 
purposes. The knots served instead of 
cyphers and could be combined in such a 
manner as to represent numbers to any 
46 amount they required. By means of 



these, the Peruvians went through their ludifttt 
calculations with great rapidity, and the PJCtUft 
Spaniards who first visited Peru bear mrftltlfl 
testimony to their accuracy. It is 
claimed that the Peruvian shepherds of 
the present day resort to a somewhat 
similar system of calculation, to keep a 
singularly correct account of their almost 
numberless flocks grazing on the upper 
plateaux of the Andes. 

u But although the Quipus'' adds 
Prescott, " sufficed for all purposes of 
arithmetical computations demanded by 
the Peruvians, they were incompetent to 
represent the manifold ideas and images 
which are expressed by writing. Even 
here, however, the invention was not 
without its use, for independently of the 
direct representation of simple objects, and 
even of abstract ideas, to a very limited 
extent, as above noticed, it afforded great 
help to the memory by way of associa- 
tions. The peculiar knot or color, in 
this way, suggested what it could not 
venture to represent ; in the manner, to 
borrow the homely illustration of an old 47 



TttdicUl WI "i ter > that the number of the command- 

PiCtUfC ment ca U s to mind the commandment 

Ulfitintt itself. The Quipus thus used might be 

regarded as the Peruvians' system of 

mnemonics. 

The ancient Mexicans had become 
adepts at picture writing, and in the use 
of hieroglyphics ; and we will only 
explain the elements of their system of 
chronology and give a few specimens of 
their picture writing before we come to 
the simple and not altogether uninterest- 
ing attempts of the North American 
Indians in conveying their ideas on the 
bark of trees by certain conventional signs. 
While noting the works and researches 
of Humboldt, Kingsborough, Bourbourg 
and Charnay on the countries now known 
under the general name of Central 
America, andcommencing on the southern 
frontier of Mexico, by Guatemala, and 
spreading south as far as the new 
Republic of Panama, it would be impos- 
sible to do more than make a passing 
reference to the ruins of Mitla, Palenque, 
\% Casas GrandeSy and to the numerous 



pyramids and teocalis that cover the Indian 
countries inhabited by the Toltecs and PiCtUfC 
their successors the Aztecs. There is no UJtltittg 
room in this paper for archeology. 

At the time of the conquest by Cortez 
and his companions, the native races pos- 
sessed more than ordinary knowledge of 
astronomy and chronology and their sys- 
tem of writing was absolutely remarkable. 

The Aztecs were acquainted with the 
cause of eclipses and they recognized some 
of the most important constellations. They 
adjusted the time of their festivals by the 
movements of the planets and fixed the 
true length of the tropical year with great 
precision. They settled the hours of the 
day with great care, also the periods of 
the solstices and equinoxes, and the transit 
of the sun across the Zenith. Their months 
were composed of twenty days, and of 
these, eighteen months formed a year of 
three hundred and sixty days ; to which 
they added five days forming altogether 
the same number of days as the Gregorian 
Calendar. But as the year is composed of 
nearly six hours more than three hundred 49 

4 



Indiatt and sixty-five days, they added twelve and 
PiCtttrC a half days of special festivities at the end 
Writing of every cycle of fifty-two years, which 
completed the century of their system. 
The epoch from which they reckoned cor- 
responded with the year one thousand 
and one of our era. They threw the 
years, as already noticed, into great 
cycles of fifty-two each, which they called 
sheafs or bundles ; so that a sheaf in the 
accompanying wheel, surrounded by a 
serpent, denotes all the divisions, holidays 
and religious festivals contained in their 
cycle of fifty-two years. Their mode of 
counting was curious. (See engraving 
page 55), They adopted numerical dots. 
The first five had specific names ; after 
which they were represented by combining 
the fifth with one of the four preceding ; 
as five and one for six, five and two for 
seven, and so on. Ten and fifteen each 
had a separate name, which was also com- 
bined with the first four, going as far as 
nineteen, when twenty was represented by 
a flag and in writing, by repeating the 
50 number of flags to attain the desired num- 



ber. The square of twenty, four hundred , fttdiHtl 
had a separate sign, that of a plume f and Pictlif C 

so had the cube of twenty, eight thousand, Anting 
which was denoted by a purse or sack. 
They adopted two series of signs, one 
with dots up to thirteen for the days and 
the other hieroglyphics : a rabbit, a reed, 
a flint head, and a house for the years. 

So much for the Aztec system of arith- 
metic and chronology which we have at- 
tempted to make as clear as possible in 
the few preceding words ; because it would 
take a volume to enter into any details on 
a subject which has been studied and 
treated by authors of acknowledged author- 
ity and who can be consulted in almost 
all libraries, public or private. 

Their system of picture painting can be 
illustrated to a certain extent by repro- 
ducing two manuscripts, which we find in 
an old history of Mexico published by 
Purchas and Thevenet in their " Annals of 
travels. " It is not without much difficulty, 
says Thevenet, that the governor of a 
Mexican province obtained them from the 
Aztecs with a Spanish translation. The 53 



TlKliatl ship which was taking them to Spain was 
PiCtUrC captured by a French corsair and the 
Writing manuscripts found their way into the hands 
of Thevet, and weie afterwards sold to 
Hakluyt, who was chaplain to the British 
ambassador to France. This eminent 
compiler of Navigations, Voyages, Traffi- 
ques of the English nation ; London, 1 599, 
had it translated into English by order of 
Sir Walter Raleigh, and Henry Spellman 
obliged Purchas, also an English divine, to 
have the originals engraved, so that they 
were rescued from oblivion. We have, 
first : the tax roll or tribute paid to the 
emperor by a Mexican City. Second : the 
symbolical description of the marriage 
ceremony of the Aztecs. Reading the 
first one, the tax roll, from right to left 
and following the engraving, page 59, A.B. 
CD. E. F., representing six times four 
hundred. A plume representing four hun- 
dred — two thousand four hundred hand- 
fuls of choice feathers of different colors, 
which were painted accordingly in the 
original. G. L., one hundred and sixty 
54 dead birds ; M. H., eight hundred handfuls 



First Indiction. 


Second Indiction*. 


Year 

of the 
Cycle. 

X. 




gg* 


Year 

of the 
Cycle. 

14. 




ih 


s. 


• • 


ft? 


15. 


. . 


4 


3- 


. . . 


» 


16. 


. . . 


1 


4- 


.... 


H 


17. 


.... 


^ 


5. 




<g^ 


18. 




fh 


6. 




* 


19. 


" 


i 


7. 


'. '. 


1 


20. 




1 


8. 


I ! ! 


i 


21. 


. . . 


«& 


9- 


.... 


$m> 


22. 


.... 


iy? 


10. 




fff 


23- 




* 


XX. 




$ 


24. 




1 






12. 




I 


25- 




CP 


13. 


• . • 


0S 


26. 


... 


>y? 



of choice feathers ; I. N., eight hundred Indian 
handfuls of choice broad yellow feathers. PlCtWC 
K. C, two becotes of amber and gold ; P. ftPlltiltg 
R., two hundred loads of cacao ; W. X,, 
two pieces, the size of a brick, of clear am- 
ber. All this was painted in colors which 
rendered the meaning more precise and 
more intelligible. 

The second manuscript represents the 
marriage ceremony. (See engraving p. 63.) 

The father A. t must place his son B. f 
as soon as he reaches the age of fifteen, 
under the tutelage of Tlamacaczqui, 
grand-priest of the temple of Camelcac 
C, where he will be educated in the duties 
of priesthood. — D. E. F. G. H. 

When a young maiden gets married, 
the marriage broker, /., takes her on his 
back to the house of the young man 
who will become her husband, W. Four 
women, X. Z., with blazing torches, light 
the way. The bride and groom, O., 
sit down on a mat. The whole marriage 
ceremony consists in tying one of the 
corners of the mantle of the young 
man, £., to the garment of the bride M. 57 



Maiatl They then make offerings of copal 
incense to the deity. Two old men and 
lUritiltg two old women,/. R, N. V., bear witness 
to the ceremony. K. P. represented the 
meats and both lovers pledge their vows 
in a cup of pulque, 6\ 

Acosta bears testimony to the fact that 
he has seen the Pater Noster, the Ave 
Maria, the Credo and the Confitecr 
written with their symbols in such away 
as to be perfectly intelligible at first 
sight. They would also write their con- 
fessions and bring them to the priests 
under the form of a list of the ten com- 
mandments, with the number of sins 
that they had committed opposite each 
commandment. 

An immense disk or dial of stone was 
discovered in the City of Mexico in seven- 
teen hundred and ninety, in making 
excavations in front of the Cathedral, 
where was situated, before the conquest, 
the famous sacrificial temple. See engrav- 
ing page 67. Signs, symbols and hiero- 
glyphics are deeply graven in the stone 
5$ and could not be interpreted by the 



ordinary rules of ancient Aztec writings. Indian 
Quite a controversy took place on the PiCtllfC 
subject, and the real translation has UHltittg 
never yet been satisfactorily settled. 
Some scholars look upon the disk as a 
symbolical calendar used by the priests 
to inscribe the dates and rites of their 
festivals and human sacrifices and the 
numbers of victims needed to appease 
the wrath of the sanguinary idols. 
Others, while also considering the disk 
as a calendar, look upon it as a com- 
mercial memorandum to fix the dates of 
ordinary local market days, which took 
place every fifth day, and the monthly 
fairs that were interprovincial and that 
recurred every twenty days. The Mexi- 
cans were a commercial people and the 
exchange of commodities in a business 
way was both regular and remarkable. 
Rules of the most stringent nature 
governed their trading ventures and their 
government gave the greatest care to the 
protection and the safety of highways 
within the empire. The famous calendar 
is now deposited in the National Museum 61 



Ittdiatt of the City of Mexico. While visiting the 
PiCtlirC capital, some twenty years ago, the 
Ulriting writer obtained a reduced plaster cast of 
the celebrated stone and presented it to 
the Museum of McGill University, where 
it is now. Sir William Dawson took 
great interest in the matter, but would 
not risk an opinion on the exact meaning 
of the Calendar, w T hether it was religious 
or commercial. The aspect of the head 
in the centre was anything but reassuring 
and the fatidical number five smacked of 
human sacrifices that were a part of all 
Mexican festivities. The similarity of 
signs and divisions with the chrono- 
logical wheel already explained is re- 
markable. Those groups of fine dots 
that surround the central figures with 
those large tents at every division of 
twenty and of smaller tents at every 
division of ten evidently concur with the 
monthly ceremonies whether religious or 
commercial. The disk which had been 
buried by the Mexicans was unknown to 
the early Spanish writers. 
62 It is sorrowful to think that the early 



I) 



v^^i 



oocoooooooo 



LE 



SB ffl g 



] OOOOOOOOOOOO 
loco OOOOOOOQ 


1 




H 


1 




Hooooo O^^ 





manuscripts painted on cotton cloth were ItlClidtl 
largely destroyed by the early discoverers PlCtWfC 
under the pretext that they were works UJlitiflfl 
of the devil. The specimens now exist- 
ing in the great libraries of Paris, Vienna, 
Madrid, London and Leipsick were 
obtained during the first years of the con- 
quest, but it is now impossible to obtain 
one in the whole country of their origin. 

THE PUEBLOS. 

We will now advance farther north to the 
countries which are known to-day as New 
Mexico and Arizona and which are in- 
habited, in part, by a curious people known 
by the general name of Pueblos. They 
are also called Moquis and Zunis, and they 
really form the connecting link between 
the redskins of Canada and the United 
States and their brethren of Mexico and 
Central America. Their form of tribe 
government differ absolutely from that of 
the northern Indians, and they live in 
houses built of sunburnt bricks or adobes. 
They at first welcomed the Spaniards, who 
immediately proceeded to place them in 
servitude and to use them as beasts of 65 



Indict! burden, to work the mines of the newly 
PlCtttfC discovered country. This did not last long, 
Writing however, because the Indians rose against 
their oppressors and drove them away. 
When the Spaniards returned in force^in 
1592, to recapture the province of New 
Grenada, the Indians made their condi- 
tions and they have ever since lived as 
their Aztec ancestors lived before them, 
under the form of a municipal government 
of their own. They occupy nineteen vil- 
lages or communes independent of each 
other, and each pueblo is governed by a 
cacique, who is at the same time high 
priest of the worship of Montezuma and 
general director of both the temporal and 
spiritual affairs of the inhabitants. This 
cacique is aided by a gubemador, three 
principals } an alguazil, a fiscal mayor and 
a capitan de la gusrra. The principals 
are always chosen from passed high priests, 
and the alguazil is a kind of high sheriff 
who executes the laws. The fiscal mayor 
presides at religious ceremonies and the 
capitan de la guerra has the command of 
66 warlike expeditions. What distinguishes 




Tomahawk, ornaments and tools made by the Puebloanos. 





Vases made by the Puebloanos. 







Images and Statuettes of the Pueblos. 




Whip, Tambourine and Ornaments of the Puebloanos^ 



them from ordinary cabinet ministers is ItUtiiW 
the fact that they draw no salaries and PlCtWC 
that all are obliged to cultivate the land tUfitiUg 
and to earn their bread at the sweat of 
their brows. Although they all nominally 
belong to the Roman Catholic faith, their 
religion remains a curious mixture of chris- 
tian and pagan rites, and they worship at 
the same time Christ and the Sun, the 
virgin Mary and the Moon and the Saints 
and the stars. The rainbow is a special 
object of veneration. They keep a per- 
petual fire burning, awaiting the coming of 
their messiah, the great Montezuma. The 
women of the tribe only work in the houses, 
having charge of domestic arrangements, 
and the sick, wounded, cripples and very 
old people are taken care of by the whole 
community. We reproduce specimens of 
their handiwork in the shape of shoes, tools, 
vases and other implements, which at 
once establish their relationship to the 
tribes of Mexico and with the Cliff 
Dwellers who lived in caves and who have 
left traces of a high state of civilization in 
parts of Colorado, New Mexico and 
Arizona. 79 



Indian Before proceeding northward to treat 
Picture of the Redskins of the United States and 
Ultititig Canada, and specially of Canada, it may 
not be uninteresting to mention briefly the 
fact that everywhere, from the shores of 
the Arctic Ocean to the plains and moun- 
tains of Colorado to the south, the French 
Canadian trapper, hunter and adventurer 
has left his imprint on the North American 
Continent. Mountains and valleys, 
rivers and streams, plains and forests 
were visited firstby those hardy pioneers, 
and there is a mountain, in Colorado, 
called the Mountain of the Holy Cross, 
which will ever remain a monument to 
their faith as well as to their bravery. On 
the side of a high peak — 14,176 feet 
above sea level — two deep ravines, cross- 
ing one another in the form of a cross, 
are filled with snow and ice and take the 
form of a dazzling cross of spotless white 
on the side of the dark pine-covered giant 
of the Rockies. It is seen, all around, 
from an enormous distance, and it has 
ever remained a land mark as well as an 
$0 object of veneration for the traveller in 




Mount of the Holy Cross in Rocky Mountains, Colorado. 



those wild regions. The Utes, the Arra- Indian 
phaos, the Crows, the Blackfeet, the PiCtllfC 
Sioux and other kindred tribes have Ulfitittg 
learned to know and to respect the sacred 
symbol of the Christian faith, that nature 
itself has fashioned in such a grandilo- 
quent manner. 

We shall now speak of our Canadian 
Aboriginies and of their picture writings, 
if we can call them so. The idea of this 
paper was first conceived, some years ago, 
while the Montreal Folk Lore Society 
was in existence, but the text has been 
altered, revised, and new and important 
documents have been added in the 
shape of maps and treaties bearing the 
signatures of noted Indian chiefs who 
figure pre-eminently in almost every page 
of the History of Canada of the 17th and 
1 8th centuries, under the French regime. 

With these few words of explanation, 
we shall proceed to take the reader back 
to the days when the heroic redmen of 
Fenimore Cooper, Mayne Reed, Gustave 
Aymard and Gabriel Ferry roamed at 
will, in the full enjoyment of primitive $$ 



Tndiatt liberty, over the limitless expanse of the 

PiCtlirC North American continent. 

Hinting Time and date : about the last half of 
the 17th century about 1675. Place : 
Ville Marie or Montreal. 

A war party of French Coureurs des dots 
accompanied by their faithful allies, the 
Hurons or Wyandots, have planned an 
expedition against their enemies, the fero- 
cious Iroquois. As the expedition pro- 
gressed on its way towards the villages of 
the Five Nations, the Indian warriors, 
according to custom, have left on the trees 
bordering the rivers or the paths which 
they have followed, marks, signs and 
figures forming a faithful and intelligible 
record of their journey and of their 
adventures. 

Each Indian nation, tribe or clan, had 
its emblem or coat of arms, consisting of 
the figure of some bird, beast or reptile, 
and was oftentimes distinguished by the 
name of the animal which it thus took as 
its device. Those emblems were known 
under the name of Totems, and those extra- 
$4 ordinary figures are often seen appended 



to Indian treaties. They were also used lUtfidN 
on warlike expeditions to mark the pas- PlCtttfC 
sage of the war parties ; sometimes to mating 
guide other bands of warriors, but oftener 
as tokens of defiance and boastful arrogance 
against an enemy. The Indian was ever 
a braggart and a vain-glorious boaster of 
his undoubted valor and personal bravery. 
We will treat only of those tribes which 
were more intimately known to the first 
settlers of New France and New England, 
and commence by making the reader ac- 
quainted with some of their totems or 
coats of arms. They are faithful repro- 
ductions of drawings made over two hun- 
dred and twenty -five years ago by old 
French travellers and chroniclers. 





For Description see next page. 



Tltdidtl Here we have, first, the coat of arms, 
Picture blazon or totem of the five clans compos- 
(Ufitittg ing the tribe of the Ottawas who inhabited 
the country watered by the Ottawa 
river — four elks cantonnes looking out- 
wards, with a pile of gravel in the centre. 
Next we have the coat of arms of the 
Great Huron or Wyandot tribe — a beaver 
sitting on his hut, in the middle of a 
pond. 




Here is the coat of arms of the Illinois, 
a tribe which roamed in the belt of 
country situated between the Lake of the 
Illionois, now Lake Michigan and the 
Mississippi river. The totem is composed 
of a butterfly in the centre of a leaf of 
the beach tree. 
$6 Then comes the coat of arms of the 




Indian 
Picture 
Writing 



great nation of the west, the Dacotahs, or 
as the French called them, the Nadouessis 
or Sioux. It seems a practical totem 
from the point of view of the ever 
famished redskin— a squirrel eating its 
way into the heart of a large pumpkin. 




On the next group we find, first, the 
coat of arms of the Outagamis or Ren- 
ards, the tribe of the Foxes who lived on 

5 



$7 



Indian the shores of Green Bay, then called by 
PiCtttfC the French the Bale des Puants. 
Writing The following totem is that of the 
Objibways,also called Sauteux or Jumpers, 
who roamed and still live in the country 
situated to the north of Lake Superior — 
an eagle perched on a high rock and 
devouring an owl. 




The Pottawottamies would sign their 
treaties or make their national mark with 
a dog, a white dog couchant on a pile or 
bed of tree leaves. 

That bear tearing the bark of a tree 
with its forepaws was the symbol of the 
tribe of the Oumanies, a warlike nation 
inhabiting the Illinois country and totally 
annihilated in battle by the Iroquois. 

The symbol itself was adopted by the 
Mohawks as a token of the bravery of 
%% the people that they had defeated. 



Without further preface, and without Indian 
going any deeper in the heraldry of the PJCttlfC 
races who have preceded us on this mfjtjltg 
continent, we will, if the reader will 
kindly follow them, go and join the 
Indian warriors at their place of rendez- 
vous at Montreal, and he will then 
accompany them on their journey, read- 
ing as he goes the narrative of their 
fatigues, their trials and exploits and 
their final victory. 

At the very spot where Montreal stands 
to-day, and near the old fort erected at 
the foot of the mountain as a protection 
against the incursions of the Iroquois, 
and of which two towers remain, 
opposite the Montreal College, the 
Hurons have pitched their cabanes and 
are dancing the war dance preparatory 
to their joining their French allies on the 
morrow. An old and experienced medi- 
cine man has peeled the bark of a large 
spruce tree, and on the yellowish, slimy 
surface of the wood is tracing some 
characters with a sharp stick dipped in a 
black substance resembling the printing *a 



Indian 
Picture 
Writing 



ink of to-day and composed of powdered 
charcoal mixed with beaver grease. The 
reader will mingle with the crowd of 
dusky warriors and decipher with them 
what the medicine man has been writing 
on the tree. The figures are rudely ex- 
ecuted and no attempt at fancy or finished 
drawing is made by the savage artist. 




We will now take the first inscription : 
the reader will observe in the centre of 
these figures a shield roughly drawn and 
surmounted by a battle axe or tomahawk. 
These are the arms of France : the three 
golden lilies on a field of azure and the 
battle axe or tomahawk is the sign of 
war among all the Indian tribes. The 
W six figures, on each side of the sh ield, 



resembling somewhat, in form, spinning 
tops, represent each a group of ten war- 
riors, so that twice nine, on each side of 
the shield, making eighteen, represent 
eighteen times ten or one hundred and 
eighty warriors of France who have dug 
up the axe of war, intent on starting on 
an expedition against their enemies. 







We will pass to the other group of 
figures. 

Here, in the centre of the shield are 
the arms of the Huron tribe — a beaver 
standing on his hut ; above the arms, a 
tomahawk ; on each side five figures 
representing five times ten warriors — all 
the signs together meaning that fifty 
warriors of the Huron tribe will join the 
French on their expedition. 



Indian 
Picture 

Writing 



91 



Indian 
Picture 
Writing 




^J$J>L 



Passing to the next inscription, we see 
that the expedition starts from Montreal. 
That flying bird on top of the two moun- 
tains explains this clearly, because Mont- 
real was ever known to the Indians as 
the village of the two mountains on ac- 
count of its situation at the foot of the 
Mount Royal hills. And the start takes 
place during the first quarter of the moon 
of July, because each moon, among the 
Indians, was known by a certain sign 
representing a bird, a fish, a plant or an 
animal and the moon of the deer cor- 
responded exactly to our month of July. 
The month of March, for instance, was 
known as the month of worms and reptiles; 
the month of April, the moon of plants ; 
May was the moon of swallows, June the 
moon of trees, July the moon of the deer, 
92 August the moon of the sturgeon, and a 



cob of green corn, which was a most im- Tttdlatt 
portant article of food for the savages, PiCtMfC 
was their written sign for our month of UJritlttCl 
September. 

To resume the meaning of these signs 
— The French and Indian warriors started 
from Montreal on their expedition during 
the first quarter of the moon of July. 




With the sixth inscription, we find that, 
immediately on starting, they embarked 
in canoes and travelled twenty-one days, 
represented rudely by the bark wigwams 
in which they camped at night. The 
Canadian Indians ignored the use of the 
tent and built their wigwams with the 
bark of the trees of the forest where they 
lived. The medicine man, each night, 
left a record of their passage, adding a 
wigwam as they went along for each day 
that they travelled by water, until they 93 



Tndiatl mac * e a sto P anc * n *d tne * r canoes carefully 
Picture * n tne brush, because the next record that 

Ulritina we ^ nc * te ^ s us P^ ainl y that tne y wa ^ keci 

for seven days. Here it is written in 
plain figures : 

That foot speaks for itself, does it not ? 
and seven wigwams give us the length 
of their watchful and wearisome journey. 



-^B^e 



The eighth inscription informs us that 
they came within three days march of a 
village of the Iroquois and they ap- 
proached it from the east. The hand 
and the three wigwams signifying their 
three days' march, the rising sun, on the 
left, the eastern approach to the village 
and the larger wigwam with two branches, 
one at each end, representing the coat of 
. arms of the Iroquois nation. 




4> f>¥* «3*5=s* i" $ •£ 

We have now reached the enemy's 
country, and the next record tells us that 
one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, 
eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve times ten 
warriors, one hundred and twenty war- 
riors are surprised in the village and are 
found asleep, if you stretch your imagina- 
tion into finding the image of a sleeping 
man in the figure below the Iroquois' 
coat of arms which bespeaks their nation- 
ality. And then there was a fiendish 
howl, an unexpected attack and a fight. 
We pass to the next : 



The arrows flying in opposite directions 
and towards one another tell us of the 
battle. 

The next inscription informs us of the 
result of the battle. The arrows flying 



Indian 
Picture 
Writing 



95 



Indian 

Picture 

Writing 



all in the same direction tell us of the 
flight of the Iroquois and of the victory 
of the French and Huron warriors with 
the following results : 

& ©©€>©©©(£>© 

©©© %i€€- 

Twelve skulls represent so many victims 
who have fallen under the tomahawk, 
and the five figures standing on the 
spinning top like signs represent five 
times ten, or fifty prisoners who have 
fallen in the hands of the victors who are 
carrying them away. The next record is 






+++^i>*> 



Q 



96 



y y 9 9 ? ^ycpyyptjo 



a bow, with nine skulls and twelve Indian 
figures resembling the letter T. The PiCtttTC 

skulls represent the dead and the'other ^fifing 
figures the wounded. This one tells^us 
that the French and the Hurons lost^nine 
dead and twelve wounded during the 
expedition. 

The last inscription speaks for itself 
and hardly needs an explanation. That 





bird flying, this time in the direction of 
Montreal, tells us of the return of the 
expedition from whence it started. 

To summarize, the twelve cartoons or 
groups of figures, signs or hieroglyphics, 
form the following narrative which 
appears plain enough after it has been 
deciphered and explained : 

One hundred and eighty French 
soldiers, accompanied by fifty Huron 



97 



Indian 

Picture 

Writing 



9S 



allies, left Montreal during the first 
quarter of the moon of July to go on a 
warlike expedition against the Iroquois. 
They first travelled twenty-one days by 
water, then marched for seven days when 
they came in sight of an Iroquois village, 
where they surprised one hundred and 
twenty warriors to whom they gave battle, 
killing twelve men and taking fifty 
prisoners. Their own loss was nine 
men killed and twelve wounded, the fight 
having been severe — after which they 
returned to Montreal. 

Such is the written record of a warlike 
expedition against the Iroquois, and you 
will naturally ask the writer for authorities 
on the subject. He will cheerfully give 
them to you : 

First : — Le Grand Voyage au Pays des 
Hurons, by Gabriel Sagard Theodat — 
Paris, 1632. 

Second : — Memoires et Voyages du 
Baron de Lahontan — Paris and Amster- 
dam, 1698. 

Third : — Journal d'une expedition con- 
tre les Iroquois en 1687, par le Chevalier 



Writing 



de Baugy, aide-de-camp du Marquis ||r 
de Denonville. 

Fourth: — Mceurs des Sauvages Am6ri- 
cains Comparers aux Mceurs des Pre- 
miers temps, par le Pere Lafetan — Paris, 
1724. But it is principally from the very 
interesting voyages and memoirs of the 
Baron de Lahontan, who was a captain 
in the French service, in Canada, that 
the writer has gathered the materials 
necessary to form an accurate and intel- 
ligible summary of these few pages of 
Indian writing and hieroglyphics. 

No claim is made of the discovery of a 
new Rosetta Stone, nor has any one 
found the golden tablets of a new Book 
of Mormons with the divine inspiration 
and the stone spectacles of Joe Smith and 
Orson Pratt necessary to translate the 
text into the usual vernacular. The 
writer has simply consulted the ancient 
Chroniclers of New France and has only 
literally copied the figures, signs and 
marks which they saw on the trees of the 
forests, giving the explanation as he A 
found it, in its primitive simplicity. 



Itldidtt Without claiming for them the scien- 
PiCtlire tific value or the historical importance of 
Writing manuscripts or inscriptions of some older 
civilizations, they, nevertheless, ought to 
form for us a precious and interesting 
memento of the races who have lived 
where we live to-day, and who are disap- 
pearing so quickly before what we are 
pleased to call the advance of modern 
civilization. 

It has already been said that some 
interesting documents and maps, which 
naturally come within the scope of a 
paper of this kind, had been found. One 
of those documents, divided into three 
parts, or rather spread over three sheets 
of parchment, bear the signatures, ^ or 
individual and tribal totems, of 38 Indian 
chiefs. They are the exact reproduction 
by photography of the treaty of peace 
signed and ratified at Montreal on the 
4th of August, 1 70 1. This treaty is part 
of the archives of the Ministry of Marine 
of France— Vol. 19 of the general corres- 
pondence with Canada. The reader will 
100 notice that the explanation or translation 



into French is found under every Indian 
signature, and it requires no stretch of PlCtUfC 
imagination to note the ingenuity, the lUfitiltg 
finesse with which those sons of the 



FAC SIMILE des signatures des '.rente IJiuit Chefs Indiens, ayam raufie a Montreal, le % AouT ijot, 
letraite de Paix conclu l'aimee precedente avec le$ Iroquois parle Chevalier de -Calueres^tjouvecrteur 
General du Canada /"Archives du Ministers de ta Marine, el des Colonies) 

Volume lg dc h Correspondence generate du Canada 







Son »to a tj< A.fv- . r / 





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forest and the plains succeeded in tracing, fftClilltt 
crude and homely pictures it is true — but PJctUfC 
full of strong individuality. The reader yjritilKJ 
will note at the foot of the last sheet the 
signatures of the Governor-General, 
Mr. de Callieres and of the intendant 
Randot. 

We will now draw attention to the 
reproduction of a map which will forever 
be celebrated in the annals of this conti- 
nent. It is the map drawn by Father 
Marquette during his expedition, which 
resulted in the discovery of the Mississippi, 
with Joliette, who was chief of the enter- 
prise, in 1673, 231 years ago. We shall 
not treat of the voyage itself, which would 
form the subject of an important paper, 
and which has been so well told by 
Francis Parkman in his work on the 
discovery of the Mississippi, but this 
map, unpublished until 1854, nas a 
romantic history connected with it that 
renders it particularly interesting to Can- 
adians. Joliette, on his return from his ex- 
pedition, was wrecked a few miles- from 
Montreal, in the Lachine Rapids. Itwasl07 



TttdUtt a U ne could do to save his own life, and 
PiCtUr* n is canoes, loaded with furs, documents, 
UJrititlQ maps, papers and baggage of all kinds, 
were lost in the waters of the St. 
Lawrence. It was only later on that he 
completed his narrative for his report 
to the Canadian Viceroy, the famous 
Count of Frontenac. Meanwhile Father 
Marquette's relation was given to the 
Jesuits, and by them placed in the archives, 
of the Order at Quebec, where it remained 
until the year 1800, when the last of the 
old Jesuits, Father Cadot, before his 
death, placed the documents in the 
keeping of the ladies of the Hotel-Dieu. 

When the Jesuit Order returned to 
Canada, in 1842, the map was returned to 
them and placed again in the archives of 
St. Mary's College in Montreal. Father 
Felix Martin, who was then superior 
general and rector of the College, placed it 
in the hands of the well-known publisher, 
John Gilmary Shea, of New York, who 
gave it for the first time to the public in 

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The reader will see on this map that Iftdifttt 
the Mississippi is called Riviere de la PlCtUfC 
Conception. The Missouri is known as Writing 
PekiUanoui,2ir\& the Ohio river^s inscribed 
under the euphonious Indian word of 
Ouabouskaion. Lake Michigan is called 
the Lake of the Illinois, which really was 
its first name, and is so inscribed on the 
old maps. 

The discovery goes as far south as the 
mouth of the Arkansas river, and it was 
left for La Salle to continue it shortly 
afterwards as far as the Gulf of Mexico. 

The United States government has 
celebrated what is known as the Louisiana 
Purchase from France, of that immense 
track of territory west of the great river 
which had been discovered by Canadians : 
priests, missionaries, traders, fur hunters, 
coureurs desboisand adventurers, and the 
names of La Salle, Tonty, Marquette, 
Joliette, Bienville, du Luth and their brave 
companions, must of right and necessity 
be inscribed on the first pages of the 
golden book of North American discovery. IT) 



Indian May we not, as Canadians, be proud of 
PiCtttrC that record which Francis Parkman has 
(Urltint) so well and so impartially written, con- 
secrating his whole life's work to the 
accomplishment of a self-imposed labor of 
love and cultured patriotism. 




ltt 



A Legend of the *» 
•» North Pacific 

The foi lowing paper was read by the writer at a concert 
given on board the R. M. S. Empress of China, on the 
passage from Vancouver to Japan. It may be stated 
in explanation of the paper that the passage was very 
tempestuous and that Monday, the 26th September, 

' was the day dropped from the calendar in crossing 
the 180th*degree of Longitude from Greenwich. 

HIS is just how it came to pass. 
It was on the calm, balmy, 
evening of Monday, the 26th 
September. Please note 
the day. 

For the first time since 
leaving Vancouver, on the 
1 8th instant, we had en- 
joyed a day of sunshine, of 
delightful weather, with a 
sea as calm, as transparent 
in its calmness, and as 
beautifully blue or green in 
its transparency — I do not 
remember which — as that 
promised by the extraordin- 
ary advertisements of the 
Canadian Pacific Railway, 
at all seasons of the year. 115 




J\ ECQCltd It had struck eight bells, and dinner 
Of tbC was just over ; a sumptuous, well- cooked, 
fiortb well-served dinner that would have 
Pacific honored the menus of Bignon, Voisin, Le 
Doyen in Paris, or Delmonico or the Wal- 
dorf-Astoria in New York. 

The commander of our good steamer 
had proven to the passengers, during the 
day, that she could make the 19 knots also 
advertised by the Canadian Pacific ; and in 
the satisfaction of fulfilled promises, he 
walked the bridge, casting a fatherly glance 
of pride on the multicolored family of all 
nations over which he was called upon to 
preside, during a period of two weeks of 
cares and responsibilities of all kinds. 

The junior officers of the ship, in the 
glory of gold lace and brass buttons, were 
casting furtive glances towards the more 
delicate members of the fair sex on board; 
ready then, as they always are, to offer a 
powerful arm and an admiring protection 
and to give assurance of the possibilities 
of a pleasant walk and agreeable chats over 
the spotless white boards of the deck pro- 
116 menade. 



The children were jumping ropes, and J\ ECQCIld 
their peals of laughter were repercuted of tftC 
under the awnings, replacing for a few ROttl) 
short moments at least the last rays of Pacific 
the autumn sun that had just disappeared 
below the rippling waves, somewhere in 
the direction of the Kamchatka. 

All the passengers will remember 
that truly delightful evening of Mon- 
day, the 26th of September. And its 
incidents must have been chronicled in 
many a long, interesting letter that has 
recrossed the Pacific Ocean on its way 
back to the loved ones at home, in 
America or Europe. 

An event of unusual interest had taken 
place during the day among the less 
favored class of the Mongolian passen- 
gers in the steerage below. Some worthy 
missionaries who were going to the East 
on a soul-redeeming expedition had suc- 
ceeded in opening visions of a purer, 
better and more profitable life, among a 
few Chinese, and a praise meeting was 
about to take place in the second-class 
saloon, to thank the Lord for having w 



J\ ECflCtld blessed their labors at such an early 
Of tlW stage of their voyage. 
Hortb Ori the promenade deck above, in an- 
PflCifiC other part of the ship, popularly known 
as the Smoking-Room, where pipes, cigars 
and cigarettes are smoked, where cock- 
tails are concocted and drunk and where 
some cards are played — oh ! only innocent 
games of whist and solitaire — another 
meeting had been called by the profane 
element of the ship's passengers under 
the name of the " Society for the Advance- 
ment of Nautical Science," to hear a 
scientific dissertation by its worthy pre- 
sident, Major Hutchison, on the possi- 
bilities of making so many miles in 24 
hours, by a ship of the tonnage and speed 
of the Empress of China, under certain 
conditions. The most difficult mathema- 
tical problems of Mercator's projections 
and nautical logarithms, of the height of 
the sun at noon, above the horizon, of 
the position of certain stars at night, of 
the number of revolutions of the twin 
screws of the steamer per minute, were 
H$ thoroughly discussed and calculated with 



the help of the first officer, Mr. Metcalfe, J\ Ccgdld 

and the scientific enthusiasm of those Of tbC 

present was raised to such a pitch that "01*11 

every one declared himself ready to back ■ •CIIIC 

up his conviction with a bet of three, 

four or five dollars, that the ship's run 

would attain a total average of between 

350 and 380 miles, up to noon, next day. 

The scientist coming nearest to the true 

state of affairs was to gather the total of 

the wagers, which was to be expended in 

Japan, in scientific researches of some 

description, at the caprice of the winner, 

in the full honesty of his love for science 

and modern progress. 

Ever since our departure from Van- 
couver the writer had been suffering with 
an acute attack of bronchial asthma, and 
even his devotion to science would not 
permit him to breathe in the clouds of 
smoke that had been slowly accumulat- 
ing in the room. A violent fit of cough- 
ing drove him out on deck in search of 
fresh air, and he went and sat in one of 
the ship's arm chairs, in a lonely corner, 
equally well protected against wind 1W 



J\ ECgCttd and spray. He fell in a slumber at the 

Of tl)C murmuring sound of the splashing 1 

Hortb waves on the ship's side, now and then 

PiKifiC interrupted by the voice of the scientists 

in the smoking room : 

" No. 357. How much I am offered 
for 357? $1.00, $1.50, $2.00, $2.50, 

$3.00, $3.50* $3-5o once > $3-5o twice > 
$3.50 three times! gone to Dr. Cum- 
mings for $3.50. Winning number, sure. 
All in the interest of science, gentle- 
men — No. 358." 

And all became silent ; and when the 
writer turned round in his chair in the 
hope of getting a little nap before retiring 
definitely for the night, he became aware 
that the seat next to his was occupied by 
a dark little man with long black hair 
and beard, and attired in Eastern costume. 

He had squatted on his heels, Eastern 
fashion, and his shining black eyes were 
fixed intently on mine, in a friendly 
manner, inviting conversation. 

As it is one of my ruling passions to 

engage in converse with strange and 

120 interesting people of all colors, origins, 



nationalities or beliefs, I at once opened J\ CCgtltd 
the dialogue, in French, with a sympa- Of tlK 
thetic : nOHb 

"Bon soir Monsieur! Un temps su- Pacific 
perbe, n'est ce pas ?" 

And to my stupefaction the little dark 
man answered in the same language, 
inquiring whether I was going to Japan, 
whether I would remain there any length 
of time and evidently seeking to learn 
how much I knew ot the history, past 
and present, of that wonderful country. 
I frankly acknowledged that I did not 
know much, but that it was for the very 
purpose of learning more that I was 
journeying towards the land of the Rising 
Sun. It was my turn to become inquisi- 
tive, and I asked him how long he had 
been in America, how he liked the country 
and what he thought of it ? This brought 
a smile on his lips and he answered : 

" My knowledge of America extends 
back to a time that the first white dis- 
coverers of the Columbian Continent 
would have called, in their days, prehis- 
toric. You smile and look incredulous. W1 



J\ Ctfltttd You may not continue to do so when I 
Of tl>C tell you who I am and how far my know- 
llOftl) ledge of your continent extends in the un- 
PadTiC fathomed and unexplored ocean of ages. 
My name does not appear on the ship's 
list, my face is unknown to every soul on 
board. I go and come as I please, as the 
bird that skims the ocean in the steamer's 
lee, appearing and disappearing at will 
answering only to the call of She who 
dwells in the depths of the Sacred Lake 
in the fastnesses of the Island of Yeso. I am 
a messenger of the Queen of the Ainos 
who first peopled and colonized Japan in 
what historians love to call the fabulous 
epoch of the history of our country. Mah- 
tu-anling, the Chinese historian, speaks 
of the existence of our race during the 34th 
Chinese Cycle, corresponding somewhere 
about to the year 1000 before the appear- 
ance of your Christ upon earth. Conquer- 
ors came from Corea and first established 
themselves in the Island of Kiusu, then 
continued on towards the north to Yeso ; 
and then was it that our race was outnum- 
122 bered, overpowered and persecuted ^by 



the Mongolians and that we sought refuge J\ Ccgctld 
in the mountain fastnesses of Yeso, while Of tI)C 
others were driven from the land in boats HOftb 
and embarked upon the sea, going to the Pacific 
eastward, first to! the Kurile Islands, 
whence they reached the first Islands of the 
Aleutian Group. The Islands were bare 
and unproductive, and only few among 
our people could eke out a living on any 
one of them. And on they went still far- 
ther to the eastward, occupying each 
island as they went, until they reached 
the easternmost, when their number was 
still so large that they decided to push on 
further to reach the western point of 
Alaska. There they found a continent 
large enough to sustain them all, and they 
lived and increased in numbers. Some of 
them choosing to inhabit the northern 
portion of the new continent became the 
ancestors of the Innuits or Eskimos, and 
they roam to this day, from the Straits of 
Behring to Greenland's icy mountains, 
forming the great Tinneh Family. Others 
looking for milder climes marched towards 
the south, spreading in their migrations 12$ 



J\ CCdCtttl * n numerous branches and forming the 
Of IlK nat i° ns *bat y ou Christians have called the 
DOTtb I ro q u °i s > the Mohicans, Pequots, Algon- 
PdCifiC 4 ums ? Abenakis, Ottawas, Illinois, Ob- 
jibways, Blackfeet, Hurons, Utes, Sioux, 
Cherokees, Choctaws, Seminoles and 
others. Those who followed the shore of 
the Pacific Ocean found a more fertile and 
more beautiful country, and under more 
favorable influences became more numer- 
ous, more enterprising and more powerful ; 
forming soon that terrible Toltec tribe 
that first inhabited Mexico and founded 
there the powerful empire that Cortez dis- 
covered and conquered. In their turn, the 
Toltecs had been crushed by the more 
powerful nation of the Aztecs, coming 
from the north, but they, too, fell before the 
incomparable valor of the Spanish chieftain 
and the undaunted bravery and energy of 
his iron-clad warriors. Need I tell you 
that thousands of years had come and 
passed during the progress of this trans- 
formation ? The A'inos had been driven 
from their homes and those who remained 
124*ad became a conquered and downtrodden 



people. Our Queen, in her water shrine J\ CcgCHd 
of the Great Lake in the Mountains of of tlK 
Yeso, had been granted immortality as a ftOftb 
reward for her many virtues, and I, her Puclflc 

slave, from the date of the first migrations 
of our people to America, have been her 
faithful messenger, living on at her bidding, 
through continuous centuries, and visiting 
our brethren of America, every fifty years, 
to report on their condition to my sublime 
mistress and Sovereign. 

" I was in America at the arrival of 
Columbus and of his companions, and I 
hastened to Yeso to report the important 
news. I watched from the tower of the 
Great Temple of the War-God, the flight 
of the Mexican Emperor Guatimozin and 
his capture by the Spaniards. In 1527 
and 1542, I espied from the sacred watch 
tower of the Pueblo, of Santa Fe, the ar- 
rival of Cabeza de Vaca and Coronado, and 
the subsequent conquest of New Mexico 
then called Nueva Grenada. Then, on 
the shore of the St. Lawrence, arrived the 
expedition commanded by the French dis- 
coverer Jacques Carrier, and the subse-|25 



B ECflCttd ( l uent occupation of Canada by the French. 
Of tf)C Again, m the spring of 1562, did I hear of 
I!ortb tne arrival in Florida of the French Hu- 
PflCifiC& uenot: J ean Ribault, of his settlement on 
the coast, of the butchery of the French 
Protestants by the Spanish Adelantado 
Menendez, and of the terrible revenge 
taken on the Spaniards by Dominique de 
Gourgues. With interest, I looked upon 
the coming, in 1585, of the first English 
settlers in North Carolina, and subsequent- 
ly in Virginia and Maryland, and last, but 
not least, the arrival of Miles Standish and 
his companions at Plymouth in 1620. 
Ever since then have I been watching and 
reporting to my Sovereign the wonderful 
changes that have taken place in North 
America. The persecution and subse- 
quent scattering of our brethren by all the 
whites, English, French or Spaniards, are 
for you matters of modern history. I will 
not, then, touch on those well-known 
topics. I will merely refer to two differ- 
ent nations among our American brethren, 
who have remained free from the con- 
126 tamination cf what you are pleased to call 



your western civilization. The Eskimos, J\ CtgtyUl 
in the North, have been protected by the gf flw 
terrible climate of their country, against UOftl) 
the encroachments of the Caucasians, and, Pacific 
in spite of the expeditions of Cabot, Drake, 
Hudson, Baffin, Behring, Mackenzie, Van- 
couver, Ross, Parry, Sir John Franklin, 
Collinson, McClure, Nares, Kane, Hall, 
De Long. Greely, Peary and Schwatzka, 
those brave children of the Aino race 
remain free and faithful to the allegiance of 
their ancestry, 

The other brave band of our brethern, 
who still cling to the traditions of their 
race, are the Pueblos of New Mexico. 
They have preserved their creed, their 
form of municipal government, their 
language and their freedom. They live 
as their fathers lived a thousand years 
ago, and they keep burning night and 
day, in their Estufas, the sacred fire that 
must not be extinguished before the 
coming of Montezuma. They continue, 
in the present, the life of a long, faithful 
past with a fervent hope in the future. 
You may ask proofs of what I say, but I 127 



J\ CCgCttd will, if you do, demand of you explana- 
Of tbC tions about the extensive group of ruins 
Hortb that were ruins when the Spaniards con- 
PflCifk quered Mexico and Central America. 
Yucatan is covered with them, and the 
remains at Palenque, Mitla and Uxmal 
can be compared with those of Thebes 
or ancient Egypt, but cannot be explained 
by your savants. Why should the 
pottery manufactured by the Pueblos of 
to-day at Zuni and Taos resemble so 
closely the pottery of ancient Japan ? 
Tell me who built and who inhabited the 
cliff dwellings of Southern Colorado, 
New Mexico and Arizona, and who were 
the people who honeycombed the preci- 
pitous walls of the canyons of the Mancos, 
of the Colorado and of the Yucca rivers. 
Who built the mounds of the Mississippi 
valley ? Tell me all that, and I will then 
answer your questions if you have any to 
propound." 

I remained silent and the little black 
bearded Aino waited a few moments and 
then jumped down from his seat evidently 

12$ §" ettin R read y to e°- 



" And tell your wise men who call us j\ CeQCMd 
barbarians, your missionaries who call $f fhC 
us pagans, that our history can in many Hortb 
ways be compared with theirs. When we Pacific 
executed a few of your missionaries, at 
Nagasaki, about two hundred and fifty 
years ago, your people were burning 
witches in Salem, persecuting Quakers in 
Rhode Island, torturing Jews in Spain, 
murdering Huguenots in France and 
roasting Catholics in England ; and all 
that in the name of a God of Holiness, 
of Forgiveness and Mercy. 

And the Messenger of the Queen of 
the Ai'nos scampered off, with a twinkle 
in his eye, kissing me good-bye from the 
tips of his fingers, and saying "Adieu, 
mon ami" with the blase tone of a dude 
walking down Piccadilly or the Boulevard 
des Italiens. 

And as I rose to look down the ladder 
where the messenger had disappeared, I 
heard a voice from the smoking room : 

" No. 380! Gentlemen, the last and 
best number, how much am I offered? — 
$5.00, $6.00, $6.50, $7.00, $7.50, $8.00, 12^ 



H Ccgcnd $8.50, $9.00, $9.50, $10.00, $10.00, 

Of tbC $10.00, once, twice, three times. Number 
Hortb 380 is sold for $10.00 to Mr. — . 

Pacific And the meeting of the il Society for 
the Advancement of Nautical Science " 
on board the R. M. S. Empress of China 
was adjourned until 6 o'clock next day, 
for the morning cocktail. 




110 



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I 3 



